12:18 AM,
Apr. 21, 2013

Caravel's Carolyn Szymanski knocks a homer over the center-field fence for the walk-off score Saturday.

Written by

Mike Finney
The News Journal

Carolyn Szymanski could have been mentally beaten down after striking out twice and grounding into a double play in her first three at-bats.

But that wasn't the case as Szymanski, a senior at Caravel Academy, kept telling herself to "stay focused and just make contact" as she strode to the batter's box in the bottom of the eighth inning in a tied game.

Szymanski proceeded to swing at the first pitch she saw and belted it over the center-field fence for a solo, walk-off home run that quickly erased those earlier plate appearances. Her blast lifted the top-ranked Buccaneers to a magical 3-2 victory ...